


Elbow Grease

by Elizabethtudor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 13:31:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13637235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elizabethtudor/pseuds/Elizabethtudor
Summary: When Ben Solo’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he won’t settle for anything less than the best mechanic to fix it.





	Elbow Grease

**Author's Note:**

  * For [demimondes (arroways)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arroways/gifts).



> Dedicated to the lovely Vee for encouraging me and to that one shot of Megan Fox standing over Shia Labouef’s car in Transformers.

It was hot. The Arizona heat soaked into Ben’s shirt, the sheer white fabric clinging to his body.   
“Is it bad?” he asked, wiping some sweat from his forehead.  
A brown head of hair popped up from under the hood of his very expensive car. “It’ll probably take a day to fix,” the girl replied.   
Ben grimaced. He was supposed to be in California tomorrow to meet with investors on his latest software project. It served him right for thinking he could road trip from New York. He has to remember he is no longer a carefree teenager. He reached for his dog tags, an old nervous tick.   
“How much?” he asked, venturing forward to the car’s hood. He wasn’t really interested in knowing how much it would cost. He knew he could afford it. He just couldn’t bear to sit in silence with a stranger.   
She had grease on her forehead. This was the first thing he noticed. Her tan skill was freckled from the sun and her brown eyes squinted in concentration. Oh god. The best mechanic in the town, the girl he heard so much about from the local information centre, was cute. Disarmingly so.  
“I’m not quite sure. I’ll need to take it back to Plutt’s to really get under the hood,” the girl replied, completely unaware of the new sense of electricity that lingered in the air.  
Ben swallowed. God, the girl was cute. Her tan legs peaked out from her short shorts and her black top was riding up her stomach, exposing a tan line of skin and the lower ring of a belly button piercing.   
“Is it okay if I hook the car up to my truck?” she asked.  
Ben nodded. “Just be careful, okay?” His concern was stupid. The car was the first thing he had purchased after leaving the military and selling his first big piece of software. His mom teased him, wondering if it was a sign of a mid-life crisis, but Ben knew better. It was a fresh start.   
The girl smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said as if she had dealt with thousands of men like him. “Your baby is safe in my hands. I’m Rey, by the way.”  
Ben stuck his clean hand out to envelope her small grease covered ones. “Ben.”  
“Well, Ben,” Rey said with a smirk, “I’ll just hook the car up to my truck and we’ll get going. If you want, you can wait in the truck. The AC works.”  
“Thanks,” Ben said gratefully. As Ben turned to walk towards the car, he took a peak at Rey, knelt over the hood. Her clothes were smudged with grease, her hair falling loose from its buns. As her shirt rode up her body, he noticed the beginnings of a tattoo just above her ass. He swallowed. Look away, he ordered himself. Almost as if she had heard his thoughts, Rey turned around and winked at him.   
*  
The cold air cleared his mind as he sat in the passenger’s seat of the truck. It was unlike any car Ben had ever been in. It seemed almost salvaged out of scraps, all barely holding together. The radio was jammed, and the engine made a weird clicking noise. But at least the air conditioning worked.   
The conversation he had with Hux about the meeting was almost as bad as the truck itself. After much begging and pleading, Ben was able to arrange a conference call for the next morning. Ben stared into the desert, lost in thought.   
The cold was briefly sucked out as Rey entered the truck. “All set and ready to go,” she said, pressing the pedal down.   
Sitting in the heap of junk was one thing. Driving in it was something else. At every stop, Ben reached for the edge of his door, terrified the car was about to fall apart. Rey seemed to find this amusing.   
“Your car is a hunk of garbage,” Ben said, the words coming out short and stiff through his teeth.  
Rey laughed, her head back. God, she was beautiful. Those loose tendrils of hair were plastered against her neck. Ben wanted to lick the sweat there, taste the salt. He clutched his hands into fists. That way lies danger.   
“Haven’t you ever been in a car that didn’t cost more than my entire year’s salary?” she asked.   
“Yes,” he replied. “My father’s car. It was a heap of junk like this, always falling apart. But he fixed it every time.”   
Han used to say he was a fixer. But Leia and Ben knew that fixing nature only happened with cars. When his marriage started crumbling and Ben left for the army, Han ran as far as he could. Turns out fixing humans and fixing cars were two very different skills.  
“Then you know the struggle,” Rey said, “Besides, it’s not like I can afford anything better. And I like the challenge.” She sent him a knowing smirk.  
Sure you do, Ben thought, despite himself. He exhaled. This was going to be trouble.  
*  
Ben was grateful when they pulled in to the garage. That spark between them was electric in the closed space of the truck, his thoughts only worsening as they drove on. In his mind he left a trail of kisses down her body, each getting lower and lower. As he stumbled out of the truck, he swore he could almost hear Rey laugh, as if she knew every dirty thought that crossed Ben’s head. As if she found the whole thing amusing.   
As Rey stepped into a sort of blue construction suit, Ben sighed with relief. Maybe with her body hidden, these thoughts would stop too.   
“Can I offer you a beer while you wait?” Rey asked. “I know our garage doesn’t look very homely and that lawn chair you are sitting in is uncomfortable as fuck, but at least I can pretend to be a good host.”  
“Sure,” Ben said. He was sitting in a little corner of the garage, in the one area that wasn’t overflowing with tools. It looked like a makeshift break room with two uncomfortable lawn chairs and a rickety table. Rey grabbed two bottles of beer and with her teeth took the lid off both of them. A surge of heat passed through Ben. Dangerous thoughts.  
“Is this your father’s garage?” he asked, desperate to try to think of something, anything besides what was between his legs.   
“Not really,” she said. “Plutt took me in when I was a kid. I owe him, but he isn’t my family.”  
Sensing that was a poor topic of choice, Ben tried to change the subject. “Why be a mechanic?”   
“Cause I’m good at fixing stuff. And I didn’t really have a choice,” Rey bristled. Another poor choice of topic. Ben stayed silent as she looked over his car. The heat of the day soon lulled him into a gentle nap.  
*  
“Wake up,” a voice said. Ben lurched forward.  
“How long was I out for?” he asked Rey who was standing over him looking amused. She had ditched her coveralls for the shorts and a t-shirt she was wearing earlier.  
“An hour or two,” she replied. “Turns out the engine isn’t as bad as I thought. All I needed was a little part and then you are good to go.”  
Ben sighed, a strange sense of disappointment filling his stomach. “Is your dad, I mean - Plutt back?” he asked.  
“No,” Rey replied. “He’s out of town for a few days at an auto show.”  
“Oh,” Ben replied, unsure of what to say. He stood up awkwardly, his head nearly touching the short ceiling.  
There was a strange look on Rey’s face. As if she had made her mind up about something just then that he wasn’t privy to. Before he could ponder this any further, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down to her height and kissed him.  
Pandemonium. Her lips were surprisingly soft against his own, her mouth open, tongue and teeth. He pulled her closer to his body, heat radiating through his veins. She made a little growl against his mouth and wrapped her legs around his waist. Cradling her, Ben carried her to his car, laying her out on the hood. He broke apart their kiss to stare at her, her eyes closed and nipples peaked with desire. He gently thumbed her nipple through her shirt as she let out a cry.   
He whispered, “Do you-” but was cut off as Rey pulled him back to her, her hands greedily undoing his shirt. She ran her nails down his back, stopping to cup his ass.  
“Fuck me,” the command was simple but clear. In that instance, Ben saw what Rey wanted. He saw himself bending her over, biting her, the lovemaking a rough frenzy of teeth. It would be easy, both of them never needing to dismantle the masks they wore. But Ben wanted more.  
He gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, a soft chaste kiss. Rey stiffed at first and when Ben went to pull back, she gently pushed him closer. He broke away. “Is this okay?” he asked.  
She didn’t reply at first, her eyes in the distance as if something was calling her. He kissed her forehead, that adorable grease stain. He trailed the kisses down to her neck, gently licking the salty sweat that lingered there. When she continued to be still, he pulled back only for her to silently plead, “Don’t stop.”  
He ran his mouth down to her collarbone, kissing each divide between her skin and bones. With her help, he raised her shirt over her head to reveal her two bare breasts. Ben shuddered. He traced his tongue around one of her breasts, slowly moving towards the nipple, his hand doing the same to its twin. Rey let out a small moan when he made it to its peak, gently biting it. Rey let out a groan, running her hands through his hair.   
“Rey,” he whispered, silently and reverently like it was a prayer.   
“Ben,” she whispered in response as he traced down her soft stomach, coming up against her belly button ring. With a push of her hands, he went lower, slowly removing her shorts. She wasn’t wearing underwear. Sweat glistened down her inner thighs and he licked it up, each lick getting dangerously close. Rey flicked her hips. “Do it,” she whispered, her eyes open and meeting his. “I trust you.”  
He moved back up, his fingers gently touching her naked body and kissing her lips, each kiss deepening. Rey moved her body against his, slowly removing his pants and then his underwear. “Rey,” he whispered again.  
She pushed him down, her eyebrows smirking as if it was all a dare. The first kiss sent a shudder through her body as he played with the entrance, his teeth grazing the lips. When he tongue entered her, she let out a groan. “Ben,” she said, “Ben.” He could feel her reaching her edge, his tongue slowly tearing her apart. “Ben,” she said once more as she came with his name on her lips.  
He moved back up to her, his lips reaching hers. She licked the taste of herself from them. “Whatever you want,” he told her. She smirked and rolled over, her ass white and soft against the roof of the car. He saw the tattoo he had glimpsed earlier, a faded tribal stamp. She noticed his gaze.  
“Impulsive drunk decision,” she said.  
“Ah,” Ben replied, his hand gently tracing the pattern. “Like this one?”  
She moved her bare body closer to his own, his own hardness tight against her. “No,” she said, “I wanted to bend you over on the roof of your stupidly expensive car when I first saw you in that sweaty t-shirt.”  
He smiled, his lips against her neck. “What’s stopping me from doing the same now?”  
She winked. “Absolutely nothing at all.”  
*  
They were lying in the backseat of his car, her bare legs tangled in his own. She had thrown his shirt on after the second time they had sex with a “Mine now” that meant Ben knew he was never seeing that shirt again. He had put his own underwear on with great reluctance because the truth was red leather seats in the hot sun tended to get sticky. She was sleeping in his arms, her hair wrapped around his neck. Ever now and again, she let off a little sigh of happiness that made Ben want to hold on tighter. The sun had set. He was leaving tomorrow.   
Ben had never been one for casual sex. Many of his fellow army men laughed at the notion of Ben having any sex life at all. But once he felt that connection, he was remiss to let it go. Rey was wildfire with this kind of energy that seemed impossible to pin down. But beneath the surface there was this sense of raw vulnerability and a sadness that echoed Ben’s own. Something inside him told him to hold her tightly to himself and not let go.  
Rey stirred, her eyes opening slowly and taking in their surroundings. She smiled at Ben and his heart skipped a beat. “Hi there stranger,” she whispered.  
“Hi,” Ben replied.   
Rey stood up slightly to stretch. “You know the interior of your car officially makes it the douchiest car ever.”  
Ben winced. “I was going through a phase when I bought it. I had just gotten out of the military and I needed something flashy after years of uniforms.”  
“A military man, huh,” Rey replied. “I guess that explains the dog tags.” Her small fingers took the dog tags from his neck and began to play with them, “Whose Kylo Ren?”  
Ben groaned. “I was a good shot. They called me Killer Ben. Soon it got corrupted and became Kylo Ren.”  
Rey giggled. “Next time we have sex, I am totally calling you that.”  
Kylo pushed her down on the seat, his arms pinning her in place.   
“No, you are most certainly not.” His heart skipped a beat. She had mentioned a next time.  
Rey smiled up at him. “Well, you know, since we’re already here, I’ve never had sex in a car.”  
Ben arched an eyebrow. “I find that hard to believe.”  
Rey pulled the shirt off her skin, her nipples already erect. “You’ll be the first,” she said, her voice husky.  
Ben shifted as she tugged at his underwear, trying to find a comfortable position. With a push, Rey switched positions with him, straddling him down to the seat. A rush of desire flowed through Ben.   
“Rey,” he whispered as she strokes his dick.  
“So tell me, Kylo Ren,” Rey said, “How do you like me being on top?”  
Ben whimpered as her traitorous hands teased him, stroking his cock until it hardened. He went to reach for her but she held him still. When they joined together, he let out a cry. With each stoke, he felt himself coming close and closer to the edge. As he felt himself get there, he went to leave but Rey pushed him tighter in. Unable to hold himself any longer, Ben came inside Rey. She smiled at him, her hands leaving his shoulders and trailing down his stomach.   
*  
When Ben woke up the next morning, she was gone. His body ached pleasantly and a strange phantom weight remained on his chest where she slept last night. He opened the door and stepped out. The garage was empty, his clothes folded into a neat little pile. He changed quickly only to find the keys in his pocket ready to go. It seemed like Rey came through. As Ben stepped out of the garage, he saw Rey sitting down with what looked like the remains of an engine.   
“Hey,” he said softly.  
“Hi,” she whispered back.  
“I was worried about you. When I didn’t see you. I thought maybe you’d gone.”  
Rey ran her fingers through her hair, leaving a streak of oil on her forehead. “I thought about it,” she confessed, “I thought about leaving you there. I nearly did.”  
“What stopped you?” asked Ben.  
“I-” Rey paused. “I don’t know. There’s something about you. I felt… different when I’m around you. Like I’m amplified or something.”  
Ben smiled as he walked close to her and sat next to her on the ground. “I feel it too,” he confessed. The two stared at one another in silence.   
“Come away with me,” Ben blurted out.  
“What?” Rey had a strange look on her face.   
“I mean… if there’s nothing keeping you here. I’d really like,” Ben took a deep breath, “I’d really like to keep seeing you.”  
Rey shook her head. “I’ve never even left the state.”  
“All the more reason to go.”  
Rey looked at Ben as if he couldn’t possibly understand. And just like that, he did.   
“Look,” he said, trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible, “Whomever or whatever it is you are waiting for… it’s not coming back. Maybe what you want isn’t behind you. It’s ahead.”  
Rey smiled and softly kissed him with an unexpected tenderness that made Ben’s heart ache.   
“I know we don’t know each other well,” he said as soon as they broke apart.  
“Well, I have seen you naked,” Rey said with a sort of airy laugh in her voice.  
“But I really feel like there’s something there. Rey,” he held out his hand to her, “Please. Join me.”  
She glanced at his hand bringing her own close to it. For a moment Ben couldn’t breathe, couldn’t imagine a world where she said no, where her rough callused hand never touched his own.   
“Please,” he whispered, closing his eyes. She brought her forehead to his own and slowly clasped his hand.  
He looked at her in disbelief. “Yes?” he asked, fear choking his voice.  
“Yes,” she said with a smile before bringing her lips to his own. He kissed her with everything he had, as if he want imparting on her the one truth he knew: that he would be good to her. As they pulled apart, Rey started laughing, the vibrations soft across his chest.  
“What is it?” he asked.  
“You have grease on your forehead,” she said.


End file.
